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Tomas Kubrican and Carol Mittlesteadt

Tomas Kubrican had only recently arrived in the United States from Slovakia when he met Carol Mittlesteadt, a waitress at the restaurant where he was a cook. Despite his limited grasp of the English language, Tomas found a way to communicate with the woman who he would one day marry.

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TK: I got this job at Paul Bunion Restaurant as a cook. In the same year, Carol picked the same place for her summer job as a waitress.

CM: When I saw Tomas, it was on my interview. He was sorting silverware in the kitchen.

TK: She caught me eye and I got immediately interested in her. But she, uh, thought that I have some mental disorder.

CM: He just kept staring at me all the time and never saying anything.

TK: My English was not good.

CM: I just thought he was a little bit odd and I kind of felt sorry for him. And one day I went to pick up my pancakes, and it was Tomas’s job to make the pancakes every morning. So I went to pick up my platter, and all the pancakes were in the shape of hearts. So then I knew something was really up.

TM: Right.

CM: Our first date I decided to take him to a concert on the square where the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra was playing. At one point the mood turned really romantic, and he turned to me and he said…

TM: ”I’m sick of you.”

CM: And I said, ”What?”

TM: Basically when it’s translated from Slovak language, that’s how we say I’m love sick. But you know, it turned out a little different, so.

CM: I heard ’I’m sick of you.’

TM: Reading her facial expression I realized that, uh, it probably doesn’t mean the same thing.

CM: And I decided to give him a second chance anyway.

TM: Our wedding date actually was exactly three years later.

CM: Tomas’s parents came from Slovakia. You know his parents couldn’t understand English so we decided to say our vows in English and in Slovak. So, the day came and I said my vows in English, and it came to the part in Slovak, and I said, ”I, Carol, take you Tomas, to be my wife.” Tomas cracked a little smile.